Crab Cake Eggs Benedict

 

My four year old, James, and I are in the midst of an intense, ongoing biblical debate regarding the book of Genesis, more specifically the story of creation.

James was taught in school that God created everything. And in four-year-old speak, everything means EVERYTHING.

“Mommy,” he said to me, as we were walking through the Target parking lot, “Did you know that God created everything?”

“That’s right,” I replied,”Isn’t that amazing?”

“He made the trees and the grass and the sky,” he continued.

“Yup, and beautiful flowers and animals too,” I added.

“And He made the shopping carts and the cars and Target,” he further elaborated.

I paused for a moment to consider my reply, then said, “Well, not exactly. But He did give us smart brains and strong bodies to be able to create things like shopping carts, cars, and Target.”

James simply replied, “No.”

“No” as in, “No, Mother! You are unequivocally incorrect. God most certainly did create shopping carts, cars, and Target.” (Side note: He might be right about the Target thing.)

This theological back and forth has become a part of our daily conversations over the past few weeks, with God’s personal creations ranging from kindles to Paw Patrol hoodies to Marvel movies.

In James’ version of the creation story, God clearly went right back to work after his rest on the 7th day.

7″ Santoku Knife from Avon’s 16-Piece Multi-Pattern Knife Set and beautiful Serafina Collection Glass Cutting Board from Avon!

Perhaps then, it was on the eighth day that God created Crab Cake Eggs Benedict??

If pressed to answer the age old question of, “If you were stranded on an desert island and had to live on only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” there’s a pretty decent chance that Crab Cake Eggs Benedict would be my reply.

This is traditional Eggs Benedict, with a simple (and quite elegant) twist. In lieu of the standard Canadian bacon, I substitute one of my spectacular broiled crab cakes, loaded with decadent jumbo lump crab meat. A perfectly poached egg is nestled on top of the crab cake, then drizzled with a generous spoonful of homemade hollandaise sauce. A sprinkling of fresh chives completes the dish.

Crab Cake Eggs Benedict in Azul Collection Melamine Bowl from Avon!

Not too long ago, I felt strongly that a hollandaise sauce should always be made using the classic culinary technique involving the whisking of egg yolks with fresh lemon juice, as they gently cook, over a bain marie, while carefully adding precisely the right amount of clarified butter for the mixture to emulsify into a luscious and creamy sauce. It’s a finicky process, but one I was proud to have learned.

Then, I had a life-changing moment.

Out of a desire to minimize the number of messy pots and pans I was juggling during my Easter brunch,  I decided to try the blender method. I’m not sure I’ll ever mess with bain-marie hollandaise again. The blender preparation is so incredibly simple, and as far as I can tell, produces a perfect, delicious hollandaise every time, which seems miraculously resistant to the common fussiness of hollandaise.

God may not have created Paw Patrol hoodies or shopping carts, but I’m pretty sure he created Crab Cake Eggs Benedict made with blender hollandaise sauce.

And He was pleased with what he tasted. 

Crab Cake Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

• 4 English muffins, halved and toasted
• A few chives, finely chopped

For the Crab Cakes:

• 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
• 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs (or regular bread crumbs or cracker crumbs)
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Old Bay or Creole seasoning
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp garlic, minced

For the Hollandaise:

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 sticks salted butter
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the Poached Eggs:

• 8 eggs
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Procedure

To Make the Crab Cakes:

Preheat broiler. Combine all ingredients, except the crab meat, in a bowl. Mix until well blended. Gently fold the crab meat into the other ingredients, taking care not to break up the chunks too much. Use your hands to form eight equal sized balls of the crab mixture. Place the balls on a baking sheet and gently flatten into patties, approximately the same size as the English muffins. Place under the broiler and cook for about 10 minutes until completely heated through.

To Prepare the Hollandaise Sauce:

Add the egg yolks, warm water, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper to a blender. Blend at medium speed for about 30 seconds or so, until frothy and slightly lightened in color. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the microwave until completely melted and hot. Turn the blender speed to low, and begin drizzling in the hot melted butter, in a slow steady stream. Blend for a few more seconds once all of the butter has been added. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt and/or cayenne pepper, as desired. Set prepared sauce in a warm location (near the stove, for example) until ready to use.

To Poach the Eggs:

Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the vinegar. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Carefully crack each of the eggs into separate ramekins, small dishes, or cups, being careful not to break the yolks. Carefully place each egg in the water, by lowering the ramekin to the edge of the water and letting the egg slip in. Use a spoon to gently nudge the whites closer to the yolk. Allow the eggs to cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on desired doneness. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

TIPS: Poach eggs in small batches (four at a time) to make it easier to keep track of cooking time. Eggs can be poached a few hours ahead of time, then stored in a bowl of cold water in the refrigerator, until ready to use. To reheat, slip the eggs into a pot of simmering water for about 30 seconds up to 1 minute to reheat.

To Compose the Dish:

Place a crab cake onto each toasted English muffin half. Set a poached egg on top of each crab cake. Drizzle with a generous spoonful of the hollandaise sauce. Garnish with chopped chives.

Makes 4 Servings (2-each)

The adorable (and quite effective) Santoku Knife (part of a 16-piece multi pattern set), Serafina Glass Cutting Board, and Azul Collection Melamine Bowl (part of a 4-piece set) are all available through my AVON web store HERE! Get 20% off orders of $50 or more with the code: WELCOME

Shaved Brussells Sprouts, Bacon, and Potato Hash

Physicists define entropy as: a measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system; inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.

Sometimes my home feels like a case study in entropy.

Ingredients prepped in gorgeous glass nesting bowls from Avon

 

A few years ago, I returned home from a grocery shopping trip with the three boys to find that our senile labrosaurus rex (aka: enormous 11-year-old yellow lab) had emptied the entire contents of the trash, chewed it to smithereens, and scattered the remains throughout the main floor of the house.

It was a true masterpiece of canine art; the grand finale of his life’s work.

And there I stood, arms full of groceries, three small people whirling around me, surrounded by millions of filthy bits of trash.

So, I stuck the baby in his highchair with a nutritious pre-dinner amuse bouche of oreo cookies. Then I enlisted the older boys’ help in picking up the living room, while I handled unpacking the perishable groceries and picking up the kitchen mess. Under the circumstances, we were all handling the situation with impressive zen.

And then, as I began loading the gallon of milk into the fridge, I lost my grip and it began to fall towards the floor. I reacted with ninja-like reflexes and caught the milk before it crashed to the trash-covered floor. A momentary triumph, until I realized that in the process of catching the milk, I’d knocked one of the fridge door shelves with my elbow, sending the shelf and its contents crashing to the floor to mingle with the dog’s trash mess.

I took a deep breath, then grabbed some paper towels and got down on the ground to begin cleaning up the broken glass, sticky hoisin sauce, and olives, which had married themselves with the kitchen mess.

Once most of the trash was picked up and the floor dry, I ran the vacuum to ensure no bits of glass remained to injure small bare feet. Then, I finished unpacking the groceries, fed the boys, and sat down to take a breath. It was then that I noticed the piercing pain coming from my toe, which had been impaled by a bit of glass.

I cleaned up my toe, then poured myself a glass of wine. A very big glass of wine.

At the time, it seemed like such a noteworthy series of chaotic events. Little did I know that such series of entropic events would become so normal they’d barely merit any attention at all. In my almost 9 years as a parent, I’ve come to realize that chaos ebbs and flows. There are periods of time where the demands of family life feel so impossibly insurmountable, no super hero could possibly win this war. And then, just when I’m ready to waive the white flag, things magically return to some semblance of normal, even if chaos is the new normal.

I’d be lying if I said that experience has taught me to thrive on chaos or to go with the flow. I rarely go with the flow. What I have learned though is that the roaring flow of chaos is always peppered with islands of blissful peace. You just have to hang on until you can get yourself onto one of those islands for a brief reprieve.

And in between the islands of peace, there is wine.

The final dish, served in Italian-Inspired Serving Bowl from Avon

This brussels sprouts recipe is inspired by a side dish which accompanied a pan-roasted chicken recipe from Plated. Combined with potatoes, it makes an easy all-in-one veggie and starch side dish for just about any meal. I served it alongside a simple halibut piccata, but I could easily eat a whole bowl of this on its own. This recipe has a high likelihood of turning just about anyone into a raving brussels sprouts fan.

Shaved Brussels Sprouts, Bacon, and Potato Hash

Ingredients

• 2 cups fingerling potatoes, cut into small pieces
• 6 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 2 cups brussels sprouts, very thinly sliced or shaved
• Olive oil, about 1 tablespoon
• Salt and pepper

Procedure

Place potatoes in a medium sized pot. Cover with cold, generously salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, under just fork tender. Drain and set aside. In a large pan, cook bacon over medium/medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon using a slotted spoon and set aside. Leave the rendered bacon fat in the pan. Add the shallot to the pan with the bacon fat. Cook for 4-5 minutes, over medium heat, until tender and golden. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, if little bacon fat remains. Add the brussels sprouts and potatoes. Cook over medium high heat for about 5-7 minutes, until the potatoes begin to brown. Return bacon to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Tequila-Braised Chicken

It seems that I blinked and almost two years went by since I’ve written.

A lot has happened in two years.  We renovated and sold our old house, then bought another house, packed and moved.

We took the boys to Disney World, Myrtle Beach and assorted other weekend adventures. We took ourselves to Barbados.

We adopted the most perfectly precious puppy.

The kids got bigger and busier. We got older (and also busier).

My little Avon hobby flourished into a unexpected thriving business, with hundreds of other representatives on my team. (That’s me in the red sweater below.)

We celebrated and we suffered. We gained and we lost. We laughed and we cried.

Basically, we’ve spent the past two years doing the whole life thing, with all of the celebrations and sorrows that brings.

And somewhere in the midst of all of that living, this little ol’ blog lost its place. Quite honestly, I was having a hard enough time garnering the mental energy to even figure out what to cook, let alone gathering the necessary ingredients, cooking it, photographing it, and then writing about it!

As our days became busier and our attention more scattered, we regretfully found ourselves in a routine of easy, not-typically-so-healthy convenience food.

Enter “meal kit delivery” sites.

My lovely sister-in-law has been using a site called Plated for awhile now. Plated offers a weekly menu of meals to choose from. You select your meals a week ahead of time, then they ship you exact portions of the fresh ingredients you need to cook the meals, along with  bright, easy-to-follow recipe cards. On your delivery day, everything you need arrives on your doorstep, fresh and ready to be cooked.

After drooling over the pictures of the crave-worthy meals my sister-in-law was cooking with her husband, I decided to give it a try.

My one and only disappointment after receiving our first Plated box was that I didn’t have another box waiting on my doorstep, containing everything I needed to cook a delicious meal on all of the other nights that week! And the next week. And the week after that.

Turns out that there are a number of other sites that offer the same service as Plated. In the past couple months, we’ve also ordered from Blue Apron and become bigs fans of Home Chef, which has proven to be the best fit for feeding our whole family.

Aside from the major convenience factor that Plated and other meal delivery kit sites offer, it’s also become much-needed fodder for food inspiration. Cooking each of the meals we’ve ordered through Plated, Blue Apron, or Home Chef, has stirred the culinary juices in my mind.

One delicious dish leads to an idea for another delicious dish. Change a bit here, add a bit over there, omit a bit over here, and voilá! You’ve got a new dish perfectly suited to your tastes.

One of our favorite Plated meals so far was a recipe for Beer-Braised Chicken. The following recipe is my modified twist on the immensely flavorful dish. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are coated in a fragrant blend of spices, then braised in a smokey chorizo-tomato based sauce, until tender and drenched with deliciousness.

Top with a Mexican cheese, like queso fresco, and enjoy over rice. This chicken would also work well in a sandwich or as filling for quesadillas.

Make a double batch for freezable leftovers!

Tequila-Braised Chicken

Ingredients

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chorizo, diced*
• 1 medium cooking onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, rough-chopped
• 1 ounce tequila (optional)
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 2-3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Mexican cheese (such as queso fresco), crumbled

*You can use sweet chorizo (dulce) or spicy (picante), depending on your preference for spiciness.

Procedure

Combine the paprika, cayenne, chili powder and salt in a small bowl. Pat the chicken thighs dry, then generously coat with the spice mixture. Heat the olive oil over medium-high in a wide saucepan. Once hot, add the chicken in a single layer. Sear for 1-2 minutes per side, until lightly-browned. Sear in batches, if necessary. Remove from the pan and set aside. (The chicken will not be fully cooked at this point.)

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chorizo to the same pan you seared the chicken in. Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add the onion and cilantro. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until the onion is tender.

Carefully add the tequila (optional). Allow to cook for a minute, then add the lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, tomato paste, and chicken stock. Stir to combine, then raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil.

Once boiling, return all of the chicken to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover the pan, then allow it to cook for approximately 8 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to cool slightly.

Raise the heat to medium-high and allow the braising liquid to cook uncovered for about 3-5 minutes, until it’s reduced by about 1/2. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, use a fork or your fingers to tear the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Return the shredded chicken to the braising liquid. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper, as desired.

Serve over rice. Garnish with green onion and Mexican cheese.

Serves about 4.

Creamy Non-Dairy Tropical Smoothie

((Sheepishly sneaks back into the blogging room, pretending as if she hasn’t been absent for the past three months))

If the look he gave me at the doctor’s office is any indication, I’m going to be in big trouble if my five-year-old, Lucas, finds out I’ve shared this story with you.

Many little boys dream of growing up to become superheroes, as if they will magically awaken one morning with webs shooting from the fingertips or the ability to leap the tallest buildings in a single bound. My Lucas has a better plan. He is aspiring to become a scientist when he grows up, with the specific intention of developing a potion which will give him super powers. He’s not about to sit around just waiting for it to happen.

This plan of his has come up again and again over the past few months. This is no casual daydream. His plans have incited intense arguments on the ride home from school over the morality of animal testing. Though Lucas has no desire to harm any animals, he feels it will be necessary to have an assortment of animals on hand to test his potions.  (Enter legions of super-powered rabbits and monkeys into the story.)

Liam, his older brother, has shamed him for his planned methods, accusing him of being a MAD scientist. Lucas remains insistent that he is a happy scientist.

He claims that while animal testing is necessary, his potions will be made of watermelon seeds and salt, because “salt ALWAYS makes potions better.” (Lucas has apparently spent some time in culinary school.) He will then dye the potions blue to trick the animals into thinking it is water. As you can tell, he’s put a frightening level of thought into these plans.

At a recent visit to the doctor, Lucas’ plans to become a scientist came up in discussion, as the doctor mixed the chemicals for a strep test. I mentioned the whole watermelon and salt potion, as it seemed relevant to the conversation. Lucas instantly shushed me and gave me the glare of death.

As a friend suggested, that doctor will likely now share the information with a colleague who secretly harbors a mad lust for power. He will attempt to replicate Lucas’ formula, but use the wrong proportions of watermelon seed to salt, resulting in a potion which grants him powers similar in strength to Lucas, but somehow twisted and corrupted.

In my casual comment, I had just created Lucas’ archnemesis.

It is hard being the mother of a mad scientist.

For a variety of reasons, I haven’t done as much cooking recently as I normally do, hence part of the reason I’ve been a bit absent from this blog. Of course, I’ll be making our traditional corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight, along with boiled potatoes, carrots, and Irish soda bread. We’ll also consume a variety of green foods, which don’t normally occur green in nature.

This smoothie recipe hardly counts as a ‘recipe’ at all. It’s more of a “Hi, I still exist.” This naturally green, healthful potion is bursting with delicious nutrition which may actually induce super powers. Lusciously creamy, I suspect this recipe may produce a fantastic dairy-free iced dessert, if thrown into an ice cream maker. I foresee an experiment in our future.

Disclaimer: No animals were harmed in the concocting of this smoothie.

Creamy Non-Dairy Tropical Smoothie

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 ripe mangos
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 1/2 cups coconut water
• Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Scoop out the flesh of the avocados and mangos. Chop the bananas into chunks. Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor, until smooth. Enjoy immediately, or chilled.

*A squirt of lime juice over the top of the smoothie will prevent the avocado from browning.

Peppermint Mocha Cakes

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat…

We’re at the three day countdown to Christmas and the excitement is bubbling over in our home. Our annual cookie exchange took place last weekend, and last night we hosted our first ‘white elephant’ booze exchange amongst my siblings and a few other honorary family members.

It was a roaring success, most certainly to be repeated in future years. I won a couple bottles of hard cider from a local orchard, a wine glass sippy cup, and a bottle of One Hope pinot noir, a portion of whose profits go toward funding adoptions for homeless animals. Every sip comes with complimentary images of wagging puppy tails and frolicking kittens. Christmas win!

Gifts marked for the exchange

Tomorrow I’ll cook our annual chicken parmesan dinner, then Tuesday I’ll prepare the beef bourguignon for the Christmas dinner we will celebrate with 16 people. The abundance of our blessings in love, and family, and friendships does not go unnoticed.

Brothers

Before we get swept into the Christmas tornado, I wanted to share this recipe with you. These delicious little peppermint mocha bundt cakes evolved from one of my favorite Hershey’s chocolate cake recipes. They’re moist and rich, with a minty mocha flavor reminiscent of my favorite holiday Starbucks beverage. Make them as mini cakes, perfect for gifting or bake sale donations, or make it as a full-sized treat for your holiday table.

Peppermint Mocha Cakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 3/4 cup very strong, hot coffee

For the coffee glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• A few tablespoons brewed coffee

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour 12 mini-bundt pans or 1 12-cup bundt pan.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and peppermint. Beat for a couple minutes until well combined. Gradually add the hot coffee and stir. (The batter will be thinner than you might expect.) Pour the batter into the prepared pans, so that each pan is no more than 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Approximately 20-25 minutes for mini-bundts, 50-55 minutes for large bundt pan) Cool completely.

To prepare the glaze, gradually stir a little hot coffee into the confectioner’s sugar until a smooth glaze forms. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake, then garnish with a crushed candy cane.

Makes 12 mini-bundt cakes or 1 large bundt cake

Triple Ginger Cookies and Holiday Sangria

This past weekend, I hosted my third annual cookie exchange party. Cookie party, for me, is quite simply an excuse to have a bunch of my friends over to my festively adorned house, so we can indulge in afternoon cocktails and eat cookies.

We eat cheese. We drink holiday sangria, pomegranate champagne cocktails, and cocoa. We trade cookies. The kids make holiday crafts. Everyone has grand time.

This year’s party was apparently so grand and inviting, that perfect strangers decided to join us.

No joke.

My cookie party got crashed by three women wearing Santa hats.

They walked up our driveway, let themselves in through the front door, sat on our stairs to remove their winter boots, coats, and hats, then proceeded to walk through the house in search of someone they knew.

One of my friends alerted me to the presence of my new guests, who were wandering my house at that very moment. I ran to my husband to find out what to do.

We were just about to greet our new guests as they walked into the living room and realized their mistake.

One woman, who appeared to be the mother of the other two, mumbled an embarrassed apology, then made a hasty exit. The other two women sat on the stairs while they laced up what seemed like the tallest winter boots in creation. They then chased after their mom, who was already in her car driving down the road in search of their intended party.

Had it been me, standing there, eating a piece of cheese in the living room of a complete stranger, surrounded by that stranger’s family and friends, I would have run out of that house barefoot, into the foot and a half of snow on the ground.

Had they brought cookies to share, I would have eagerly encouraged them to stay. But, as I always say, every time someone crashes my cookie party… No cookies? No cocktails!

Next year, I’m hiring a cookie bouncer for my party.

These spicy, triple-ginger cookies were my contribution to the cookie buffet. They’re sweet and chewy and oozing with gingery flavor. The holiday sangria, which follows, is accented with festive flavors of orange, ginger, cinnamon, and pomegranate.

You’d have crashed my cookie party too, if you knew these cookies and sangria were waiting inside.

Triple Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
•  1 2-ounce bottle crystallized ginger, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, eggs, and oil. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Roll into 1″ balls. Arrange the balls about 1 1/2″ apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crackles form on the top. Remove the cookies from the oven, then give the baking sheet a little whack on the counter to flatten the cookies.

Holiday Sangria

Ingredients

• 1.5 liter bottle of sweet red wine (I used Sutter Home’s Sweet Red Wine)
• 1/2 cup triple sec
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup ginger ale
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 pear, chopped
• 1 pomegrante
• 1 orange

Directions

Combine the wine, triple sec, orange juice, and ginger ale. Add the cinnamon stick and the chopped pear. Remove the arils from the pomegranate and add to the mixture. Remove the orange segments from the orange, chop into small pieces and add to the mixture. Remove the white pith from the orange peel, then slice the peel into small slivers. Add to the sangria. Chill and enjoy.

Rainbow Cookie Cake

Is anybody else planning on getting their two-year-old a Harry & David fruit basket for Christmas this year??

I’m guessing I might be the only one, and yet, I’m 99.99% certain that it will be his favorite gift, by far. The kid is ridiculously in love with fruit.

In fact, on Halloween, we stopped by my sister’s house to trick-or-treat. She handed each of the boys a piece of candy from the bowl of treats by her door, before remembering that she had an ultra-ripe Harry & David pear for my littlest guy. She ran into her kitchen to grab the foil-wrapped gem, then handed it to my little James, who literally threw the piece of candy over his shoulder like a piece of worthless garbage, in exchange for the tender pear.

I expect him to be as excited over his Harry & David fruit basket as the other boys will be over their massive Lego castle and Minecraft video game.

When it comes to Christmas, I am like Walt Disney, carefully masterminding magical moments. While James revels in the magic of an assortment of unusually large, perfectly ripened fruit, I expect the other two boys to be doing giggling backflips over the two-foot-long gummy worm I plan to order or the giant rice krispie treat I found at Target.

In the spirit of magical, over-sized treats, I think you’ll enjoy this oversized rainbow cookie cake. It’s like those addictingly delicious, almondy rainbow cookies, only it’s the size of an entire cake. It’s like one, giant rainbow cookie, and I wouldn’t blame you if you ate the whole darn thing.

I started with a recipe for rainbow cookies, then lighted it up just a bit with an additional egg, a bit more flour, and a teaspoon of baking powder. It’s got the dense lusciousness you expect to find in a rainbow cookie, just a bit more cake-like.

This rich, chocolate-drenched cake is a must-have on any holiday table.

Rainbow Cookie Cake

Ingredients

• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 8-ounce can almond paste
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Green food coloring
• Red food coloring
• Yellow food coloring
• Seedless raspberry jam
• Apricot jam
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Chocolate sprinkles

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray three 9×5 inch loaf pans with baking spray.

Place the five egg whites into a clean bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Use a fork to break up the almond paste into smaller pieces. In a large bowl, combine the almond paste and sugar with an electric mixer until there are no large lumps. Add the butter and beat until well combined. Add the egg yolks and almond extract and beat until blended.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

Gradually beat the flour mixer into the wet ingredients. The dough will be quite thick.

Stir one third of the beaten egg whites into the dough. This will slightly lighten the mixture. Then, fold in the remaining egg whites until well blended.

Divide the dough into three equal portions. Use a few drops of food coloring to color one portion red, another portion green, and the remaining portion yellow. *Gel food coloring has the best effect.

Use a spatula to spread each portion of dough into the three prepared baking pans.

Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cakes are set and the edges just begin to turn golden.

Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the pans, then carefully invert the cakes onto cooling racks. Cool completely.

Use a long serrated knife to level the cakes, removing as little cake as necessary.

Spread a layer of raspberry jam over the red layer. Place the yellow layer over the jam, then spread the apricot jam on top. Top with the red layer.

Chop the semisweet chocolate. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan or in the microwave, just until boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, then stir until smooth. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate ganache over the top and sides of the cake. Garnish liberally with chocolate sprinkles.

Refrigerate to set, but remove the cake from the fridge before serving, so it comes up to room temperature.

Thanksgiving Menu Ideas

Hey, folks…

Reposting last year’s round-up of Thanksgiving ideas for a little menu-planning inspiration!

~Amy

APPETIZERS

Cranberry Chipotle Meatballs

Corn and Bacon Fritters with Smoked Salmon

Bacon-Wrapped Dates stuffed with Bleu Cheese

THE MAIN EVENT

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Pan Gravy (and tips for roasting a whole turkey)

Bacon and Cider Braised Turkey Drumsticks (and garlicky creamed spinach)

Spiced Sweet Potato Puree with Pecan Streusel

Sausage, Apple, and Leek Stuffing

Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Green Beans Almondine

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts

Hot Doughy Buns

DESSERTS

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Coconut Pie

A Few Variations on Apple Pie (in an all butter pie crust)

Caramel Apple Cake

Turkey-Shaped Sugar Cookies

Caramel Apple Tartlets

Spiced Mango Upside Down Cake

Cannoli Cheesecake

How to Carve Your Thanksgiving Turkey – Photo Guide

In charge of carving the bird this Thanksgiving?

Most of us carve a turkey once a year, if that, which means that just about all of us could use a little refresher on how to tackle that big golden bird.

With that in mind, here’s a little photo guide to help you get the job done.

1. Allow your guests to see that gloriously golden, fragrant, tender roasted turkey. Then, bring it back into the kitchen to carve. It’s a hands-on and somewhat messy job. There’s no need to be dealing with it at the carefully set Thanksgiving table.

2. Start by removing the legs. To do this, use a sharp carving knife to cut the skin connecting the leg to the body. Use your hands to pull the leg away from the body until you hear the joint pop.

Then wiggle the knife through the joint and pull the leg off of the turkey carcass.

3. Repeat on the other side. Then, separate the thighs from the drumsticks by inserting a knife between the joint. If desired, slice the meat from the thigh and drumsticks.

4. Remove the wings in a similar manner, by gently pulling the wing from the body, then using a knife to cut through the skin and joint.

5. Finally, remove the turkey breasts from the carcass. To do this, make a long, deep cut into the center of the turkey on one side of the breast bone. Carefully glide your knife down along the breast bone to remove the entire breast from one side of the turkey.

6. Repeat on the other side, then lay the breasts skin side up on your carving board and cut across the breast into slices.

Save the carcass from turkey soup!!

Pumpkin Gingersnap Bars with Gingered Cream Cheese Topping

Halloween blew my two years old’s mind. Totally blew it. For weeks we’d been talking about how he would be Captain America on Halloween, while his brothers would be Hulk and Thor. Daddy would be Iron Man and Mommy would be Black Widow. We’d go door to door, collecting candy, which we would deposit in plastic pumpkins.

Though clearly flummoxed by this odd outline of what would happen on Halloween, he walked around telling anyone who would listen that he was going to “be Captain America”. (When he says it, it sounds a lot more like “Captain Murder”.)

As Halloween unfolded, every last bizarre detail came to fruition. He became Captain America. He was handed a plastic pumpkin. He said the magic words as he trotted from door to door. He got candy. Somehow, he managed to collect twice as much candy as either of his older brothers, having visited the same number of houses.

Be Captain America. Get Candy.

Meanwhile, Lucas, my five-year-old Hulk, obsessed over the accuracy of every minute detail of his costume. My initial money-saving plan of picking up a fleece Hulk hat, t-shirt, and green face paint was met with a long list of concerns about muscles, green arms, purple ripped pants, and green legs.

I abandoned my frugal plan once the details overwhelmed me, in lieu of an official store-bought muscles-included hulk costume. Far from solving the problem, this purchase was quickly met by concerns over not having green feet or enough teeth in his partially toothless mouth. A hefty dose of gamma radiation may have saved us all a few headaches.

Learn from my experience, folks… If you stick three little boys in superhero costumes and call them The Avengers, you’d better expect some major chaos. Thor’s hammer was revoked almost instantly. Somehow, we made it through the day, by the skin of our superhero teeth.  Next year, I may dress our whole clan as librarians, monks, and sloths.

American Dairy Association and Dairy Council Fall Dairy Tour – Part 1

Thankfully, the very next day, I had the pleasure of departing for a weekend of dairy education and wine and cheese tasting, hosted by the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council. Last year’s event was such an amazing experience. (You can read about it here.) I couldn’t wait to see what ADADC had in store for us this year.

This year, the event began at the beautiful Geneva on the Lake in Geneva, New York, which is located on the northwest side of Seneca Lake. Nestled in the New York Finger Lakes wine country, the manicured grounds of this elegant villa-inspired resort are absolutely stunning.

After a comfortable night’s sleep in a spacious jacuzzi suite, we awoke for a continental breakfast at the resort. From there, we departed for Cornell University, where we spent the day touring Cornell’s state of the art dairy farm and dairy production plant. We met with experts in the fields of dairy farming, food science, and dairy production.

Going a step beyond the dairy farms, we learned about ice cream, cheese, and yogurt making and how Cornell University partners with local cheese artisans and other small business to help them develop and promote their dairy products.

Part of our ‘learning’ required tasting a variety of ice creams, frozen yogurt, homemade yogurt, and cheese. I had no choice but to eat that delicious ice cream and a second helping of cheese. Twist my arm already!

I couldn’t possibly do the weekend justice in a single post, so I’m going split my thoughts into a few posts, each post paired with seasonal, dairy-inspired recipe. Think cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and creamy chowder…

For today, let’s start at the beginning, with the cows. During our time at Cornell, we had a chance to visit their state of the art dairy farm, where approximately 150 cows roam within the freestall barn, resting on comfortable beds of beach sand and enjoying pleasant back-scratching from the automatic back scratchers placed throughout the barn.

Any mom who has ever nursed a baby knows that milk production is at its best when the mom is well-nourished, well-rested, and comfortable. Same applies to dairy cows. Happy cows means more milk and these dairy farmers have mastered the art of keeping cows happy and healthy to maximize production.

Cornell’s dairy barn, which is designed for maximum ventilation, sanitation and cow-comfort, sets an example for the dairy industry and provides a hands-on learning opportunity for its dairy students.

Three times a day, Cornell’s cows are brought to the milking parlor, where their milk is collected for use within the school’s very own dairy production plant, where Cornell’s own ‘Big Red’ cheddar is made, as well as yogurt and ice cream for the university’s dining halls.

Twice daily milking is standard for most dairy farms, but Cornell’s cows, much like its students, are overachievers. Each cow produces an average of 95 pounds of milk daily, putting them in the top 95th percentile for milk production. I’d expect nothing less from an Ivy-league cow!

As each cow arrives in the milking parlor, its health records are electronically reviewed to ensure that the milk from any cow being treated for an illness is never mingled with the rest of the milk supply. Maintaining the safety of the food supply, from milking to production is a top priority.

The level of careful planning and practice which goes into the entire process of dairy farming is seriously impressive. As a dairy consumer, it’s comforting to get a closer look into where my food comes from. And as someone who has a soft spot for animals, it’s reassuring for me to learn that cow comfort is intrinsically linked to milk production. Happy cows really do produce the most milk.

In Part 2 of my dairy adventure, I’ll talk about two things which I love dearly: cheese and Wegmans. For today, enjoy some pumpkin gingersnap bars.

These seasonally perfect pumpkin bars pair a spicy gingersnap cookie crust with a layer of luscious baked pumpkin custard. Creamy half and half (half cream/half milk) lends a satisfying richness to these tiny bites of gingery pumpkin bliss. Cream cheese, another of dairy’s mouth-watering contributions to the world of food, provides the perfect finishing touch.

Pumpkin Gingersnap Bars with Gingered Cream Cheese Topping

Ingredients

• 2 cups crushed gingersnap crumbs
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups pumpkin puree fresh or canned (1 – 15 oz can will do the trick)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• Pinch of cloves
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Extra gingersnap crumbs for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the crushed gingersnap crumbs with the melted butter. Press in an even layer into the bottom of a 13×9 inch baking dish. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, whisk together the pumpkin, the sugars, half and half, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and cloves, until well blended. In a small dish, combine the cornstarch with about 1/4 cup of the pumpkin mixture, until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the gingersnap crust.

Bake for about 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Cool at room temperature until no longer hot. Then, cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into small 1- 1 ½” squares.

Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a pinch of ground ginger. Use a pastry bag to pipe a bit of the cream cheese topping onto each square. Sprinkle with extra gingersnap crumbs.

This dairy tour and wine and cheese getaway weekend was hosted by the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council. As part of this event, they provided me with accommodations, meals, and compensation towards travel expenses. I was under no obligation to the ADADC, Cornell University, Geneva on the Lake or any other agency. All opinions and observations are my own.